Recent DE articles concerning the budget lead me to suspect that the paper regurgitates information form the Democratic National Committee’s news wire. That’s understandable. What aspiring Washington Post or Mother Jones reporter wouldn’t want to spruce-up their portfolios with liberal platitudes? The importance of the current budget battle, however, deserves a hearing of both sides.

The GOP has produced a budget that reaches balance in seven years, three years shorter that Clinton’s proposal which the Congressional Budget Office said still had deficits over $200 billion as far as the eye can see. What about the five year balanced budget Clinton proposed on Larry King Live? Seems the old guard liberals in the House shut the president up quickly on that one.

According to the president, he is going to veto the budget because of the so-called cuts in Medicare. Never mind that the program will still rise at about twice the rate of inflation, with per-capita spending going from $4800 to $6700 in seven years, and be in existence for future recipients.

Advertisement

The president says he vetoed the continuing resolution because the GOP is gong to raise Medicare’s part B premiums. Not true. The GOP holds the beneficiaries share of the premium at the current 31.5 percent. The president proposes to drop the premium, (before the election of course), to 25 percent. However, after seven years his plan results in a four dollar difference per month for seniors compared with the GOP plan. SO four dollars per month is the difference between a caring plan and one that wants to get old people.

The president says the GOP is going to cut student loans. The taxpayer cost of student loans under the GOP plan goes from $24 billion to $36 billion seven years. Another Democratic definition of mean-spirited cuts.

The Democrats say the GOP wants to increase defense spending. Yet defense is the only large program in the budget which actually gets reduced in real dollars over seven years.

I could go on ad-nauseam, but you see the trend. Whatever program receives a reduction in the rate of growth, even though it outpaces inflation, is said to be taking an extreme cut. Those programs which actually do get a cut are said to be increasing. The economists at the White House budget office must be working overtime.

I know numbers and facts tend to obfuscate the issue for those who have bought into the incessant misinformation and lies which emanate from this White House. But it would be wise to take the long view.

For those students who look beyond the next keg, a real balanced budget has positive effects which will be apparent when they become productive citizens. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said it could mean at least a two percent reduction in interest rates. SO when you go to buy a house sometime in the next decade you’ll save an average of $40,000. Furthermore, a solvent economy will stop your kids form having to pay a projected $190,000 a piece to service the national debt. What a gift! And what about all those precious social programs that have served us since the Great Society? Well, we’ll actually have some discretionary money left over after entitlements to continue to finance those gems.

Since the DE is now exhorting everyone to vote Democrat next year I would like to cordially invite all forward thinking extremists to do what 142 elected Democrats and Colin Powell have done:Register Republican and bring real change to Washington.

Advertisement*

vice president, College Republicans